I Miss Her
by Cybermals
Summary: Ben decides he can't live without his mom.  Will Ross and Rachel stop him in time?


**(A/N This takes place after the finale. Carol and Susan were killed in a car accident. Ben was sent to live with Ross and Rachel, but is having a hard time coping with the death of his mother and her lover. He's already lashed out at Rachel and Ross, but he hasn't said or done anything to hurt Emma in any way.)**

"Mommy?" asked Emma, as she wandered out into the living room. "Why Ben go bye-bye?"

"What do you mean, sweetie?" asked Rachel, as she looked over at Emma. Ross looked up from the paper he was reading at the table, concern on his face.

"Ben say he go bye-bye," said Emma, tears welling up in her eyes as she recalled the sadness in Ben's voice as he said "bye-bye" to her. "He say he join his mommy."

Rachel looked at Ross, before the both of the jumped up and ran for the bedroom Ben was sharing with his sister. Rachel tried to open the door, but it was locked.

"Ben!" she cried, banging on the door. "Ben, open the door! Please!" Rachel was in tears at this point, worried sick for the boy she considered her own son. Ross grabbed her arm, and pulled her none too gently out of the way, before ramming the door with his shoulder. It cracked, but still held. He backed up, and rammed it again. Backing up, he rammed it a third time, and the door flew open. To his horror, Ross saw Ben sitting on his bed, a handful of pills in his hand.

"Ben, NO!" he cried, running over and grabbing Ben's wrist, before he could swallow the medicine. Ross squeezed his wrist hard enough to force Ben to open his hand, and the pills spilled out on the floor. Rachel, who had raced in right behind Ross, grabbed the pill bottle before he could get any from it.

"Let go!" screamed Ben, as he fought against his father's grip. He tried to tear his wrist free of Ross's grip, but it was like trying to break a vise grip.

"NO, Ben! You can't do this! Suicide isn't the answer to anything!" cried Ross, as he struggled against his son's attempts to pull free. Rachel, who had a grip on Ben's other wrist, was quietly sobbing as Ben struggled to free himself from his parent's grasps.

"Let me GO!" screamed Ben. "I wanna be with her! I don't wanna be here!"

"Ben, stop it!" cried Rachel. "Your mother wouldn't want this! She'd want you to live your life remembering her!"

"Ben?" said a small voice suddenly, from the doorway. Ross and Rachel turned to see Emma standing there.

"Emma, go watch TV," said Ross. "We're dealing with Ben."  
"NO," said Emma, surprising them all. She walked into the room, and climbed up on Ben's bed. "Don't hurt Ben." To Ross and Rachel's amazement, she leaned in and hugged her brother as far as her small arms would go.

Ross and Rachel's grips had loosened enough for Ben to pull his arms free from them, and now he wrapped them around Emma, hugging her back as the tears started to flow freely from his eyes. Soft sobs started to wrack his body, as Emma let go of him to climb down. Ross leaned in and hugged his son, as Ben gave in to the hurt he had been holding back all this time. Loud, heart-wrenching sobs escaped him as Ross held him close.

"Ssssssssshhhhhhhhhhh, it's okay," he whispered, as Ben continued to cry. "Don't hold it in, Ben. Let it out."

"I'm suh-suh-sorry, Dad," cried Ben. "I muh-muh-miss her!" At this, Ben broke down sobbing for all he was worth again.

"I know, I miss her, too," whispered Ross, his own tears flowing freely at the pain his son was feeling. He felt the bed shift, and looked over to see Rachel sitting down, her own tears flowing. She reached over and took Ben off Ross's shoulder, and pressed him into her, as he sobbed and whispered "I'm sorry" to his parents over and over again.

Eventually, the tears and sobs from Ben started ceasing off, and quit, but Rachel didn't let go. "Ben, we love you. I love you. Please don't do something like that again. I don't know what your father and I would do, if we lost you. Or what your sister would do." She stroked his hair, as she kissed his head.

"I'm sorry, Mom," whispered Ben to her. Rachel felt a new flood of tears escape her eyes, but this time, they were tears of love, at being called "Mom" by Ben. Emma wandered over to her brother.

"Ben go bye-bye?" she asked timidly, hoping he'd stay. Ben smiled down at her.

"No, Ems. Ben's staying," he said, as he stroked his sister's hair. Emma squealed in delight, and grabbed his hand.

"Movie!" she yelled, and pulled him out of their room. Ross and Rachel stood up, and looked at each other. No words were said, but none were needed. Ben had finally confronted the hurt he was trying to hide, and had let it go. The healing could now begin, for the whole family. They walked out of the room, arms wrapped around their waists, as they went to help their children pick out a family movie to watch.

**(A/N I'm not ashamed to say, I cried writing this. Normally, I wouldn't write anything with this much angst, but the evil plotbunny that delivered this to me refused to go away. BAD evil plotbunny!)**


End file.
